Astro Boy (Dark Horse)

If you’re a manga fan of a certain age, the American release of Astro Boy is the embodiment of an answered prayer. And the only real question that needs asking is: Stripped of nostalgic value, after decades of delayed gratification and accumulated anticipation, can it possibly live up to our expectations?

Oh, yes. Osamu Tezuka shows that a master storyteller never has to “jazz up” his art with tricks or gimmicks. Like all masters, he makes it look painfully easy: First, find a story (one that’s about something, with genuine emotion and conflict), then you just tell it (simply, directly, as cleanly as possible). And, decades later, your stories can still resonate with the reader.

Happily, Tezuka himself appears as a character in Vol. 1, appropriately enough, like Walt Disney hosting The Wonderful World of Disney, introducing a story or expanding on its background. For these older fans, Astro remains Astro in this translation, though they’ll have to get used to Japanese names for the other characters. (Though “Mr. Mustache” is definitely a more appropriate name for the guy we knew as “Mr. Pompus” from the cartoon, who was really more of a “Mr. Manic-depressive.”)

And, for younger readers, you’re lucky to meet someone who’ll soon become an old friend.